Greg's New Best Friend
by Senorita Stokes
Summary: GregSara. Greg gets a new best friend, which causes problems at the CSI lab, among other things, wink Sorry that the line that seperates settings didn't show up: it confused a few people.


Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, or anything of that nature.

A/N This is my second story. I would appreciate any and all critisism. Thanks

Greg's New Best Friend

Greg Sanders was getting ready to go to work. He wasn't a big fan of mornings. Grissom was always on his case for being a little bit late, but it's not like it was his fault. He never got enough sleep, and whenever he gets called to work unexpectedly, that's just more time taken away from his sleeping. Well, today he wasn't going to be late. Right before walking out the door, he took one last look in the mirror. He asked himself, "What did Hank have that I don't?" A few moments passed when he finally sighed and said out loud, "Sara…" He immediately looked away, opened the door, and walked out. He suddenly felt the sharp pain of loneliness sting his heart.

He was walking to his car, when he saw a dog following him. It looked like a small chocolate lab. It had big brown eyes and its fur was a bit shaggy. Then the dog came up to him, sniffed him a little bit, and then sort of knelt towards him. The dog kind of whimpered as if he was hurt, so Greg decided he should help it. He was just about to be late again, despite his efforts, and chose to bring the dog with him. Grissom might get mad at him for bringing a dog, but at least it wouldn't be for being late again. He took a quick look at the dog and realized it wasn't physically hurt. Maybe it was just lonely, like him, and needed a friend. When Greg urged the dog to get in his car, its eyes sparkled and looked happy; it jumped in the car with ease. The dog was pretty small for a black lab. It couldn't have been very old; it was only about 10 pounds heavy.

There was a reason why Greg kept the dog. When he was younger, he had a dog. His name was Peter. He had named him Peter because when he was a kid, he loved watching "Peter Pan". The dog's name was originally Peter Pan, but he had gotten over the Peter Pan obsession and just called him Peter. Greg didn't have many friends as a young kid, so when he got Peter, he became his best friend. He even told Peter secrets because he knew he could trust him. Whenever Greg was alone, Peter was there. It was like he sensed Greg's loneliness. When Peter died, he was devastated. He didn't talk to his parents, or anyone, for weeks. He got two dogs after that, loving them both, but both ran away. He never really got over his dogs. He still misses them. Even now, whenever he sees a picture of Peter, his eyes will water and he will have to look away to keep himself from crying. When he saw this dog come up to him, he felt a connection to it. Like the connection he had with Peter. He knew he couldn't just leave the dog there. That's why he decided to name this new dog Peter.

Greg was a bit nervous about taking the dog with him. He didn't know what Grissom would say, but he knew it wasn't going to be good.

Greg smuggled the dog inside the CSI building. As long as the dog didn't disrupt anybody, he thought everything would be okay. It would also help if Grissom didn't see the dog, either. Unfortunately, word broke out about the dog.

"Oh my God, what a cute dog!"

"Aww, look at him!"

"Awww, what's its name?"

Endless questions about where he found it, if he was going to keep it, and so on. He kept shushing them and telling them to keep quiet. Eventually, the night shift CSIs heard about the news.

"You brought a dog here!" Sara said, half talking normally and half shrieking.

"Umm…maybe…why?" Greg asked, almost silent enough for her not to hear.

"God, Greg. Grissom is gonna have your head for this, you know that, right?"

"Well, what Grissom doesn't know, won't hurt him, right?"

Then Greg looked at her with his cute puppy dog eyes and pouted his lips.

Deep down in her soul, she knew she couldn't resist him. Lately, she had been keeping an eye on him. Grissom was just a disappointment for her. She had to move on with her life, and Greg was always there for her. She was thinking about giving him a chance.

As Greg and Sara were talking about the dog, they didn't realize that Grissom was standing on the doorway.

"What dog?" inquired Grissom, knowing very well what dog, with everyone talking about it at the CSI building. He wasn't usually mean, but Greg had been late several times that month, and he felt he had to show more authority.

As soon as Grissom spoke, Greg and Sara turned around as quickly as humanly possible.

Greg was about to panic.

"Umm…this one…"

Then he took out the dog from under his desk, and lifted him up to show Grissom.

"Greg, first, you've been late almost every day this month, and now this? What is going on with you?" His voice getting louder.

"Grissom, I swear, I –"

Grissom cuts him off, his voice getting angrier.

"Greg, save it! I don't know what's wrong with you, but I can give you time to think about it."

"But… I didn't do-"

Again, Grissom interrupts him.

"Greg- would you rather be a lab tech again? Or maybe find a new job?

"Grissom, what the hell!" Sara finally got tired of this

"This is total Bullshit."

Grissom, startled, replied, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. All he did was save a dog. I didn't know that was a crime. And he's not the only one who comes in late. It's not easy being the night shift. Why are you being so hard on him?"

"He needs to learn to be more responsible, and bringing a dog to the CSI building is certainly not responsible." Emphasizing 'not' and 'he' a little too much.

"You know, "he" is right here, and would like to say that Peter hasn't done anything wrong and isn't interrupting anyone's work, and Sara has nothing to do with this, so there is no need for her to become involved in this. This is between you and me, Grissom."

Greg was getting fed up with two of them talking about him as if he weren't there. Although, he liked that Sara was defending him. He was hoping she would leave the conversation so she wouldn't get in trouble because of him.

Grissom gave him a look and then started talking as if he had said nothing.

"Why are you defending him, Sara? This has nothing to do with you. Why don't you walk away and stop getting involved."

Grissom didn't mean to argue with Sara. She wanted her to leave because he didn't want to be in bad terms with her. Even if he didn't admit it, he had feelings for her. Unfortunately, this was the wrong thing to say.

"What? You don't want me to be here? Are you too good for me? Is that why you rejected me every time I asked you to go to dinner with me? Am I not good enough to be in your presence? Is that why you didn't love me back?" Her voice was getting louder and more distinguished with every word she said, but when she stopped, everyone became stone silent, including her.

Sara's first thought was: "Oh my God. Did I just say what I think I did? I didn't mean it, did I? Do I still love him? Oh, why did I say that!"

Grissom's first thought was: "Oh my God. Did she just say what I think she said? Does she still love me?

Greg's first thought was: "Oh my God, did she just say she loved Grissom? Does she still love him, or did she mean it in past tense?

After a few moments of silence, Sara decided she has to get as far away as possible.

"I…uh…I have to go."

Then Sara runs out of the room, trying to escape the tension.

"Why did I say that? How could I say that? Now Grissom is going to hate me forever. Not to mention Greg. What is Greg going to think of me? I'm never going to get a chance with him. The look of horror in his eyes…"

She was talking to herself, scolding herself for what had just happened. She didn't know what to do next. All she could think of was to hide. Hide somewhere, anywhere. She saw the locker room and decided that it was a secluded place. It would have to do.

After Sara had run away, Greg had tried to scream out her name, but she kept running. He was shocked at what she had said, but this wasn't the time to be selfish. Sara needed to be comforted, and he was going to help her. He knew she needed someone to talk to. He gave Grissom a look of hostility; Grissom was definitely not his favorite person right now. Then, he ran after her.

"Sara! Sara!" Greg was calling frantically, until he saw her figure run into the locker room.

Sara was sitting on a bench, crying. She couldn't stop crying, no matter how much she wanted to. Her mind was thinking a million different things at once. It felt like her mind was about to explode. She had her hands on her face, with her tears drenching her hands so much, she could taste her salty tears.

"Sara…?"

She was crying so much, she didn't hear Greg walk through the doorway. When she heard him, she didn't lift her head.

"Sara, are you ok? What's wrong?"

She looked away, afraid of showing her tear-filled face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ok." She said as she wiped the tears from her face furiously.

"Sara, I've always been here for you, and I'm here for you now. Please tell me why you're crying."

"Why are you always there for me? All I do is tease and make fun of you. I don't deserve you. I've never done anything to deserve your kindness."

"Sara, don't say that. You know that isn't true."

"It **is** true."

She was finally looking in Greg's direction.

"Sara, don't you get it? I love you!"

Sara was astonished. She couldn't form words, no matter how hard she tried. She opened her lips, but she couldn't speak.

"Sara…I have loved you since the day we met. I think about you every second of every day. Simple conversations we have make my day. Every time I thought about you being with that jackass, Hank, I would get…so frustrated…I would get so frustrated at myself for not being good enough for you."

Sara had begun to cry a little bit again, but with a light smile on her face. Greg was blushing a little of embarrassment.

"It's not every day you tell the girl of your dreams you love her, huh?"

Then Sara looked into his eyes. He couldn't look into hers any longer, so he looked down, but Sara used her hand to gently lift his face to look at her again.

"Sara…I love-"

He was interrupted when she pushed her lips to his. First, Greg's eyes were wide with shock, but then, as the kiss became more passionate, his eyes closed and he put his arms around her as she had done to him. He was rubbing her back very gently over her shirt, when one hand went up to her hair. Then he put his hand on her face and pulled away softly.

Then they both finally opened their eyes.

"Heh…as I was saying before I was wonderfully interrupted …I love you so much, Sara Sidle."

They both smiled and gave each other another hug. Then Greg used his thumb to softly clear her face of her hair and tears.

"I love you too, Greggo." Sara whispered into his ear.

Grissom was pacing around in his office trying to figure out his feelings for Sara. He didn't know what he wanted. All he could think of was Sara's hateful words to him. Would she ever forgive him if he apologized? He would soon find out.

Sara and Greg had walked out of the locker room together as Catherine was walking by. She noticed Sara's eyes were red.

"Sara, Are you alright?"

Sara gave her a small nod and a smile and replied

"I will be."

As Sara and Greg walked away, Catherine noticed they were holding hands.

"What is going on?" she muttered to herself.

As Grissom was pacing, Sara knocked at his door in a way to show she was there, not to ask if she could come in.

"Sara, I'm so-"

Grissom was cut-off when Sara began to talk.

"Gil, what I said before. Well…"

Grissom gestured her to sit down.

"No, I'd rather stand."

Grissom gave her a glance, but let her speak.

"Gil, what I said. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to say it that way. I don't love you anymore, Gil. You have just been one disappointment after another to me. But I'm sorry for yelling, and for what I said. I hope we can still be friends."

This felt like a punch to the heart. But he knew that it wouldn't work out with them. He decided he would have to ignore his feelings and commit himself to his job, like he always had; but he didn't mind.

Grissom held out his hand.

"Friends?'

Sara smiled.

"Friends."

At the end of shift, Grissom was done with the case earlier than expected and was actually going to leave on time. As he closed his office door, he saw Greg and Sara. Both were holding hands, with Greg using his free hand to hold his dog. All Grissom could do was smile.

After Greg and Sara had parted ways, (after setting up a date), Greg went home with his new companion. Not only had he found a new best friend, but a new girlfriend as well.

He was laying on his bed, thinking about today's events when Peter jumped onto his bed, and curled up to go to sleep. Greg petted the dog's head lightly and changed into his Spongebob pajamas. Tonight, he was going to sleep better than he had in years.

"You better get a good night's sleep, too. We're going to the vet tomorrow."

Greg laughed as the dog opened its eyes and left the room. He knew that dog had a mind of its own. But it wasn't just a dog. It was his best friend, and neither of them would be lonely anymore.


End file.
